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Evan Longoria
Evan Michael Longoria (born October 7, 1985) is a Major League Baseball third baseman for the Tampa Bay Rays. Formerly, Longoria was a star infielder for the Long Beach State University baseball team, the 2005 Cape Cod League MVP, and the 2006 Big West Co-Player of the Year. He made his major league debut for the Rays in 2008, and was named to the American League team for the 2008 MLB All Star Game. Longoria was also named the 2008 American League Rookie of the Year on November 10. Longoria had one of the biggest hits in Rays history when he hit a walk-off home run in extra innings of the last game of the 2011 season, snapping a tie with the Red Sox in the race for the American League wildcard spot and sending his team into the post season. This home run won a GIBBY award for the best walk off home run of the 2011 season. Tampa Bay Rays Longoria was selected by the Tampa Bay Rays as their third overall pick in the 2006 Major League Baseball Draft. Longoria was called the "best pure hitter" among college players in the 2006 draft class by Baseball America. He was the highest draft selection in school history. Tampa Bay gave him a $3 million signing bonus. After signing with the Rays, Longoria tore through his first assignments in the minor leagues. After just eight games with the Single-A Hudson Valley Renegades, Longoria moved up to the Visalia Oaks and impressed the organization with his quick success, hitting .327 with eight home runs and 28 RBI in 28 games. This earned him a promotion to the Double-A Montgomery Biscuits, where he hit .267 with six home runs through the end of the season, and hit .345 in the postseason, including a walk-off two run home run in the Southern League Division Playoffs to put Montgomery into the championship. He was the 2007 MVP with the Biscuits as well as a postseason all star. On top of that he won a player of the week award. He was widely considered the top third base prospect in the minors and one of the top prospects at any position. Longoria followed up his successful debut with another stellar year in 2007. Starting the year with Montgomery, Longoria hit .307 with 21 home runs and 76 RBI in 105 games for the Biscuits before a late season promotion to the Triple-A Durham Bulls. In 31 games with the Bulls, he hit .269 with 5 home runs and 19 RBIs, but also had 29 strikeouts. He finished 2007 with a combined average of .299, 26 home runs, 95 RBIs, and 73 walks for an OBP of .402. In October 2007, sportswriter Ken Rosenthal opined that Longoria "might be next season's Ryan Braun, making a rapid ascent to the majors." Some scouts have in particular said that the way that the ball "explodes off his bat" reminds them of Braun. He was expected to start at third for Tampa Bay in 2008 with the move of Akinori Iwamura to second base, but ultimately failed to make the opening day roster and was optioned to Triple-A Durham. According to reports, the Rays elected to send him down to complete his development, citing his short 31 game stint in Durham and drawing comparisons to the seasons of two other highly heralded 3rd base prospects. 2008 On April 12, 2008, the Rays placed Willy Aybar on the disabled list and called up Longoria from Triple-A Durham to replace him on the major league roster and on the 40-man roster. Longoria made his major league debut that night going 1 for 3 with an RBI. Longoria hit his first career home run on April 14, against the New York Yankees at Tropicana Field. He had his first career two-homer game on May 24, and drove in six runs as the Rays defeated the Baltimore Orioles 11–4. Both of the homers came off the Orioles' Steve Trachsel, also a Long Beach State alumnus. On July 19, 2008, Longoria hit his first career grand slam off Toronto's Roy Halladay in the fifth inning as part of a 6–4 winning effort. On April 18, the Rays signed him to a six-year, $17.5 million contract with options for 2014, 2015, and 2016. The first six years of the contract cover his arbitration years, with three more years added by team options. If the team exercises its one-year option for 2014, and then its two-year option for the 2015 and 2016 seasons, the deal could be worth up to $44 million. There is a general consensus that this contract is among the most team-friendly, in terms of dollars per Wins Above Replacement, in Major League Baseball. On July 10, Longoria won the 2008 All-Star game AL Final Fan vote over outfielder Jermaine Dye of the Chicago White Sox, outfielder José Guillén of the Kansas City Royals, first baseman Jason Giambi of the New York Yankees, and second baseman Brian Roberts of the Baltimore Orioles. Longoria went 1–4 in the game and hit a game-tying ground-rule double in the bottom of the eighth inning. He also participated in the Home Run Derby that year. He hit 3 home runs. On August 11, Longoria was placed on the disabled list with a fractured wrist. On September 18, Longoria had his first three home run game against the Minnesota Twins at Tropicana Field. On September 20, Longoria caught the game-ending out, from Joe Mauer in foul territory as the Rays clinched their first playoff spot in team history. On October 2, in the first postseason game for both Longoria and Tampa Bay, Longoria hit two home runs in his first two at-bats to help lead the Rays past the Chicago White Sox 6–4. Longoria is the first rookie and second player overall to homer in his first two postseason at bats. The first to do so was Longoria's hitting coach at Triple-A Durham, Gary Gaetti, who had his historic effort with the Minnesota Twins in 1987. On October 14, 2008, Longoria set the rookie mark for most home runs (4) hit in a postseason series, breaking Miguel Cabrera's record set in 2003. The Rays made it to the 2008 World Series (their first in franchise history) but were defeated by the Philadelphia Phillies. After the 2008 season, Longoria was honored with The Sporting News Rookie of the Year Award for the American League, as well as the American League Rookie of the Year Award. He became the fourth third baseman to win the award. He also became the sixth player and the first since Nomar Garciaparra in 1997 to win a Rookie of the Year Award unanimously. He was also named the third baseman on the Topps Rookie All-Star Team. 2009 In April, Longoria knocked in his 100th career RBI, in his 135th game. The only then-active players to get to 100 RBIs more quickly were Ryan Braun (118 games) and Albert Pujols (131 games). At the end of April, Longoria became the first player in Rays franchise history to be named the AL Player of the Month. He had also won two of the four Player of the Week awards for the month of April. Longoria drove in 131 runs in his first 162 games in the majors, the third-highest total through May 2009 of any active player. Longoria was selected by the fans to start the 2009 MLB All Star Game on July 5, 2009. Due to a finger injury, he was kept out of the lineup. Longoria won the American League Gold Glove Award for his position on November 10. Two days later, he won a Silver Slugger Award. 2010 In 2010, Longoria hit for the highest average of his career at .294 and was selected to play in the All Star Game for the third consecutive season. He performed well, getting a hit in his only official at-bat, in addition to having a walk and a run scored. Across the board, Longoria's 2010 season was statistically impressive, including 96 runs scored and 46 doubles as well as 5 triples. Surprisingly, though, his home run and RBI production reduced from 33-113 in 2009 to 22-104 in 2010. After the season, Longoria won the Gold Glove Award at third base for the second straight year. 2011 On September 28, 2011, Longoria hit a walk-off home run in extra innings against the New York Yankees to give the Rays an 8-7 victory, and more importantly, a spot in the playoffs. Earlier in the month, the Rays were facing a deficit of nine games in the wild card race to the Boston Red Sox. However, an epic collapse of the Red Sox, where they went 7-20 in the final games of the year, and a surge of the Rays, allowed them to overtake the Red Sox and eliminate them on the final day of the regular season. Longoria's home run came just three minutes after the Red Sox suffered a walk-off loss to the Baltimore Orioles. 2012 On April 30, 2012, Longoria suffered a partially torn hamstring after sliding to second base when being caught stealing. His injury placed him on the 60-day disabled list as Longoria was expected to miss from 6–8 weeks. He missed 13 weeks and returned to the lineup on August 7, 2012. In the 85 games Longoria missed, the Rays earned a record of 41-44. The rest of the season, the Rays were 49-28, for a 63.6% winning percentage. On October 3, 2012, Longoria finished off the 2012 season with three home runs in the final game. On November 26, 2012, Longoria was signed to a 6-year, $100 million contract extension that could keep him in Tampa Bay through 2023. 2013 On August 19, 2013, Longoria hit his 25th home run of the season, giving him his fourth 25-homer season. This tied him with Carlos Peña for the most such seasons in Tampa Bay Rays franchise history. During the 2013 season, Longoria became only the third player since 1961 to hit nine or more home runs against the Yankees in one season. Longoria's nine home runs established a team record for most home runs in one season against one opponent. Continuing a career long trend, Longoria hit a key two run home run on the last day of the regular season vs the Rangers. He came in with six home runs on the last day of the regular season, tying Stan Musial for most all time, Longoria then hit his seventh career homer to break Stan Musial's record. In five regular season-ending games, Longoria is 11 for 19 with 10 RBIs. Longoria finished the 2013 season with 32 home runs.